Apparatus for drying web material



April 6 1926.

B. R. ANDREWS APPARATUS FOR DRYING WEB MATERIAL Filed A ril 19, 1922 'lnvenToT. Bernard R.Andrews byM Anys.

BERNARD R. ANDREWS, OF BRAINTREE; MASSACHUSETTS.

renames non nnvme WEB MATERIAL.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD R. ANDREWS,

"a citizen-of the United'States. and resident of Braintree, county of Norfolk, and State of Massachusetts, have. invented an Improvement in Apparatus for Drying Web Material, of which the following descrip-.

terial of the kind which can be brought into contact with a heated drying surface.

One way now in use for drying material of this kind is by partially drying the materialby bringing it into"contact'witlrheated drylng ing.room may have any suitable shape or surfaces and partially drying the material by passing it mto or through a heated drying room, the combined action of the drymg room. and heated surfacesserving to dry the material to the desired extent.

In operatin a drying room is is customary to prov-i e for heating the air in the room to the pie-determined point and also to provide for admitting constantly afsupply of fresh'air to the drying room and at the same time discharging from the dry room air which has been used in drying the material.

Itis one of the objects of my present invention to provide an improvementin this type of drying apparatus by which the air which.

is usually discharged from the dry room and thus wasted can be made use of for facilitating the drying operation, and I accomplish this by taking the heated airwhichis thus discharged from the dry room and delivering it onto the material while in contact with the heated drying surfaces. The de: livering of .air onto material while thusin contact with a heated drying surface hastens or facilitates the drying operation and by utilizing for this purpose the air which is normally wasted from the dry room I pro-' vide for hastening to a considerable extent the drying operation by simply utilizing heat units which usually go to waste.

In order to give an understanding of my invention I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which Wlll.

now be described, after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claims. v The drawings show more or less diagram- Application filed April 1a, 1922. Serial at. 555,561.

matically a drying installation embmlymg my improvements.

l'indicates a plurality of heated drying surfaces herein shown as cylinders, with which the material 2 to be dried is brought in contact. The material is herein shown as a continuous web but my invention is-not limited to drying material in web form as any material which can be brought into contact with heated drying surfaces can be dried by this, method. The material 2 is shown as a web merely for illustrative purposes and not withthe idea of limiting the invention to web materiali 3 indicates a drying room or compartment m which the material 2 is dried. This dryfresh air is constantly admitted thereto. In

the drawings herein shown the drying room is provided with inlet openings 12-through which fresh air may be admitted and it is also provided with means hereinafter referred to for permitting a constant discharge of air from the dry room.

My invention consists in utilizing some or all oft his discharged air, which usually goes -to waste, for facilitating the drying of the material while in contact with the heated surfaces 1. This is done by delivering Such air against the material while in contact with said heating surfaces.

In the construction herein shown I have.

arranged for delivering air onto the material while it is in the dry room thereby facilitat- 7 ing the drying effect at this point and-this is accomplished by usmg a pipe 5 having jet nozzles 6 which are arranged to deliver air.

jets against the material 2. The air which is used for this purpose is. taken from the drying room 3 and is forced through the pipe 5 by means of a fan or blower 7, the discharge of which is connected to the pipe 5 and the inlet 10 which communicates with the interior of the drying room .3.

Where this construction is employed it is convenient to utilize the fan 7 for delivering onto the material while in contact with the heated surfaces 2 the air which is to be discharged from the drying room 3 and this may be accomplished by extending the pipe 5 as shown at 8 so that it passes over the heated surfaces 1 and then provide said pipe with jet nozzles 9 arranged todeliver air onto the material while in contact with said heated surfaces.

In apparatus of this type the drying room 3 is usually of considerable size and the amount of air which is discharged from it is relatively small compared to the cubic volume of the air in the room.

In my invention this air which is thus discharged and which usually goes to waste, is utilized in facilitating the drying operation by being delivered through the jet'nozzies 9 onto the material 2 while it is in contact with the heated drying surfaces 1. The delivery of the air onto the material while in contact with the heated drying surfaces facilitates to a marked degree the drying operation and with my invention this is accomplished by using heat units which usually go to waste.

While I have illustratedlherein heated drying surfaces in the form of cylinders and have illustrated the material to be dried as in the form of a web, yet my invention is not limited to either this form of heating surfaces or to web material and the particular installation shown in the drawings is used for illustrative purposes only.

In the operation of the invention the material is partially dried while in contact with the drying surfaces and is partially dried in the drying room, the combined action of the two serving to dry the material to the desired point. So far as the invention is concerned, it is immaterial whether the initial drying of the material occurs while in contact with the heated surfaces or in the drying room and in the case of Web material the invention" can be practiced by feeding the web in either direction so that it will pass over the drying cylinders first and then through the dry room or so that it will pass through the dry room first and then over the drying cylinders.

I claim. j

1. In a drying apparatus, the combination with a plurality of heated drying surfaces with which the material to be dried has contact and by which it is partially dried, of a heated drying room in which the material is also partially dried, said drying room having provision to admit fresh air thereto and to discharge air therefrom, and means to convey air discharged from the drying room and in the condition in which it is dis charged to the materialwhere it is in contact with the heated surfaces.

2. In a drying apparatus, the combination with a closed heated drying room in which web material may be partially dried, said drying room having provision for continuously admitting fresh air thereto and continuously discharging air therefrom, of a plurality of heated drying surfaces situated exterior to the room and with which said web material has contact and by which it is also partially dried, and means to take the air which is continuously discharged from the drying room and direct it without change of condition against the material while in contact with the heated drying surfaces.

3. In a drying apparatus, the combination with a closed heated drying room in which web material may be partially dried without contact with a heated surface, said drying room having provision to admit fresh air at the lower portion thereof and for discharging air at the upper portion thereof, of a plurality of heated drying surfaces exterior to said drying room and with which the material to be dried has contact and by which it is also partially dried, and means to take the air discharged from the heating room and deliver it onto the material that is in: contact with the heated drying surfaces.

4;. In a drying apparatus, the combination with a heated drying room in which web material may be partially dried and which constitutes a unitary drying element, said drying room having provision to admit fresh air at the lower portion thereof and for discharging air at the upper portion thereof, of a plurality of heated drying surfaces exterior to said room and with which the material to be dried has contact and by which it is also partially dried, said heated drying surfaces constituting separate drying elements which have a drying effect on the material independently from that of the heated drying room, and means to take the air discharged from the heated drying room and deliver it onto the material that is in contact with the heated drying surfaces.

. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

BERNARD R. ANDREWS. 

